Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
Smt Anupriya Patel inaugurates the ‘International Digital Health Symposium’
“India has taken the digital inclusion approach to ensure all levels of health services and to include appropriate digital health interventions.” This was stated by Smt. Anupriya Patel, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare at the inaugural session of the ‘International Digital Health Symposium,’ here today. Smt. Anupriya Patel also inaugurated the exhibition on Digital Health as part of the Symposium, where participant countries along with various Government Ministries, states and other stakeholders showcased key innovations, implementation experiences and innovative Digital Health Interventions.
The Digital Health Symposium follows the two-day Global Digital Health Partnership  summit and allows wide engagement with innovators, clinical leaders, academia, researchers, healthcare establishments, government representatives, international and national technical experts, entrepreneurs and the research community.
Mr Upendra Yadav, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Health, Nepal, Dr Arlindo Nascimento do Rosário, Minister of Health, Cape Verde, Dr Ulana Suprun, Minister of Health, Ukraine Mr Faizal Cassim, Deputy Minister of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous, Sri Lanka, Dr. Shah Mahir, State Minister of Health, Maldives also graced the inaugural session and reiterated their commitment towards the digital health agenda. Dr VK Paul, Member, NITI Aayog, Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, World Health Organization, South-East Asia Region, Ms Preeti Sudan, Secretary  and Shri Sanjeeva Kumar, AS, were also present at the Symposium
Smt Anupriya Patel further stated that the Government’s policies have essentially included the affordability, accessibility and availability of healthcare services to all citizens as an action item. “We have successfully been able to provide healthcare to each citizen through various interventions. It is here we are leveraging digital health interventions to maximize impact,” she added.
Dr. V K Paul, Member, NITI Aayog said that India is ready to take the big leap in digital health. “India shall soon be unveiling the India’s National Health stack and is focused on creating digital revolution encompassing national nutrition mission, telemedicine and other interventions with focus on aspirational districts. We envision that by year 2022, all the 1.3 billion Indians will have digital health records,” Dr Paul elaborated.
Dr. Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, World Health Organization, South-East Asia Region stated that adequate planning and designing with focus on people centered care, adhering to standard and guidelines and interoperable solutions, can save time and money. “WHO will facilitate the collaboration and to establish specific mechanism to centrally coordinate digital health to assist among key stakeholders in member states for sustainable introduction of digital technologies and maximize the use of digital health,” she mentioned.
Ms. Preeti Sudan, Secretary , stated that Ministers and government officials from over 34 countries attended the 4th Global Digital Health Partnership Summit, and the Delhi Declaration on Digital Health adopted affirms the attainment of sustainable development goals and to improve the health and wellbeing of citizens through the best use of evidence based digital technologies. “The international symposium organised today further builds to discuss the impact of digital technologies on health systems and health services delivery,” she added.
The Symposium provided a forum to learn from key global leaders in the field of digital health and innovation. This was an opportunity for countries to showcase key innovations and share experiences of implementing digital health interventions for health systems strengthening and Universal Health Coverage.
The Symposium held discussions on various themes such as Futuristic Health Systems, Challenges in Health IT Sector, Privacy and Security in the Digital Arena, Aadhaar and National Health Stack, Innovation Ecosystem, Start-ups and AI for Health, Digital Health Innovations for transforming primary care, Remote Monitoring/Wearables /IOT/Home based care, National health information systems, Financing Digital Health, Public Health Surveillance Systems, Enabling Environment for Public Private Partnerships in Digital Health, Personalized Precision Medicine leading to possible policy interventions and clear outcomes.
Approximately 700 delegates including high level delegates from the government, stakeholders from academia, clinical leaders, government institutions, healthcare institutions, researchers, innovators, start-ups, entrepreneurs, non-governmental organization and industry participants from international, regional and national levels from the networks of individuals and organizations participated in the above symposium.
The Symposium was live webcasted and the archived videos are also available from: http://www.gdhpindia.org/webcasting-gallery.aspx/, on the official website of ‘4th Summit of Global Digital Health Partnership and International Digital Health Symposium’.